9

Dreaming in Religion, Shamanism, and Healing

269-304

p. 275

"Barbara Honegger (1979) has argued that the famous Bird Man glyph found in ... Lascaux Cave in France, part of a mural that has been dated to more than 16,000 years ago, most reasonably depicts a dreaming shaman ... . ... Honegger suggests that, "... the Bird Man at Lascaux, since he is alone

and prone, is that he is dreaming.

{Actually depicted supine, not "prone". People (except for infants) do not normally sleep prone, anyway.}

His most unusual physiological features -- his bird-like head ... -- have already been accounted for ... .

{His being depicted as bird-headed may well be intended to indicate that he is dreaming of being a bird -- probably dreaming of being the very same bird which is also depicted as perched atop a post.}

His remaining striking physiological feature -- an erect phallus -- can be

{We could suggest that the erotic element in the dream could have been his coi:tion with a female bird (not depicted) while both birds [crows?] had been perched on the back of the depicted rhinoceros. [written 21 Nov 2017]}

p. 276

accounted for by the dream hypothesis" (ibid:9)."

p. 276

"among the Koryak, "... people about to become shamans have fits of wild paroxysms alternating with a condition of complete exhaustion. Finally they retire to the wilderness ... in order to prepare for their calling" (Jochelson ... [1908]:47 ...) ... The cure occurs because the budding shaman accepts the spirit(s) involved in producing the symptoms ... ."

p. 277

"among the Tungus, "A dead shaman appears in a dream and summons the dreamer to become his successor. ..." (Czaplicka 1914:177).

Novice shamans among the Chukchee are commonly isolated ... for days at a time ... . They will often sleep and dream a lot (ibid:179).

Among the Buryat, a child who is to become a shaman manifests these signs : "He is often absorbed in meditation, likes to be alone, has mysterious dreams, and sometimes has fits during which he is unconscious" (ibid:185)."

"Lewis-Williams (1987 ...) has emphasized the importance of dreaming to San Bushman shamans ... .

{"San is the Nama name, meaning "outsider," given to the Bushmen living in Southern Africa. It is generally considered offensive. ... However, they only recently have agreed on a collective name for themselves : ABATHWA." ("S&KhP") [This is somewhat similar to \AByssinia\.]}

As with the Bird Man glyph above, ... what is being depicted are ..., ... from ethnographic sources that that San shamans are adept lucid dreamers as well.

Drawing from the fieldwork of D. F. Bleek, Lewis-Williams (ibid:168) quotes a Bushman informant as saying about a shaman that, "He lies

asleep by us,

{required "by us" (i.e., by consensus of the community) to achieve, during his dreaming, results beneficial for the community?}

his magic walks about

{his magical spirit-helpers, in their animal-guises, walk about in Otherworlds, on their errands as commanded by him, for the benefit mortal membres of the local waking-world community of humans?}

while we sleep here."

{"we" must be asleep in order to be identified by the shaman's Otherworld spirit-helpers who are intent on bringing benefits?}

The shaman sleeps and dreams and

exits his body

{must exit the waking-world material body, and entre the dreaming-world subtle body}

to wander around

{\"Wander"\ is a poorly-chosen word, for, in order to the sought-for results, the shaman must go to a praeselected site of rendezvous in a specific location in a specific Otherworld, in order to meet spirit-helpers there, so that those spirit-helpers can be sent forth by him on specific errands.}

and protect his community

from evil doers.

{from hateful Christians, from agents of a greed-maddened government bent on confiscating indigenous lands, etc. etc.}

The same power (//ke:n or "magic") fuels both the trance dance and the lucid dream."

{While performing dances with intent on thereby entertaining local divinities, a praeternatural power is therewith conjured, similarly as is the spirit-power contacted during dreaming.}

p. 277

"among the Dunne-za {'among the beaver', an Atabaska tribe on the Peace River basin in British Columbia and in Alberta} ...,

{During "the time of the Watetash" (when "all the common animals talked"), there was ("M&SOI", p. 227) "a monstrous beaver called Wishpoosh, which lived in the lakes at the head of the Yakima River."}

the initiation of each man is by way of a vision quest (Ridington 1971; Ridington and Ridington 1970). The vision is sought through a series of dream experiences in which the would-be hunter encounters spiritual animals described in myth who initiate him and bind mythic time with the present. His relationship with the archetypal "boss" of each animal species he hunts is dependent upon these early encounters. ... Shamanic initiation is an extension of this series of dream encounters, but ... by a community of shamans in heaven ... . Through these dream-visions the shamanic initiant establishes

p. 278

a relationship with

the "boss" of humans,

{called "the human mould" by Carlos Castan~eda}

and obtains his "god songs" that give him the power

to guide the "shadows" of men along the path to heaven.

{"On our death, however, ... Our soul goes, that's all. What goes is our shadow, like our silhouette, blurry, imprecise ..." ("WWDI")}

Shamans among the Patvioso, an American Plateau Shoshean tribe living in Nevada, may be of either sex, and commonly obtain their calling and receive their powers through dreaming (Park 1934) : "A man dreams that a deer, eagle, or bear ... tells him that he is going to be a doctor {medic}. ... Then he dreams that way some more and he gets the things the spirit told him to get. ... He learns his songs when the spirit comes and sings to him."

"For the Bororo people of {southwestern Mato Grosso in} Brazil, ... it is during dreaming that the nascent shaman (bari) gets the first clues to his life's career (Crocker 1985:201-202) :

[quoted] The first and recurring shamanistic

dream is one of soaring very high above the earth,

{I myself have often experienced this dream, over a course of some 6 decades.}

"like a vulture," {The vulture-sky being the highest of the 3 skies of TL-MRJ cosmology.}

{In my own dreams, this soaring aloft (sometimes bodilessly, sometimes in an aer:oplane or in a rocket-ship) hath varied from a few thousand feet altitude to several thousands of miles in altitude.}

accompanied by the soul of some relative who is often ... a shaman. ... Suddenly he sees a large cloud of smoke rolling across the savannah emitting flashes of light "as sparks flying from a fire."

... The novice shaman will continue to dream about events that will come true in waking life.

Later he hears voices when alone and will offer the spirits tobacco smoke ... . ... he knows he has established a special relationship

p. 279

with the spirits, which is confirmed by episodes of possession ... . There will follow dreams in which the apprentice is tested by the spirits and which will expand his experiences of the spirit world. Eventually the shaman becomes a conduit for information between the spirits and the community."

p. 279

"Gilbert Herdt (1977, 1992; see also Lohmann 2004) contributed ... descriptions of shamanism in New Guinea -- that ... among the Sambia ... . The

kwooluku

{possibly a compound of Strong's 6955 \QHat\ ([from \QeHuwt\ 'bluntness' (MH-ED)] name of one of the sons of Lewiy) + Strong's 3922 \Lekah\ (place-name meaning 'walk', referred to in the expression "take a walk with the Godhead") or else Yoruba \lukumi\ 'friendship' (referring to becoming a friend of a praeternatural entity).}

or shaman is a major figure in Sambia religion. It is a role that is bestowed upon an individual who has shown a "calling" for the job in their {his or her} childhood. ... Parents pay great attention to their children's dreams ... . "... If one or more of the parents, or caretakers {typically grandparents}, are shamans, they may interpret the dream to 'show' ... that ghosts have an exceptional interest in the child. Alternatively, dreams with a recurring figure may be viewed as a manifestation of the shamanic familiar of the same-sex parent which is believed to have taken a 'liking' to the child" (ibid:155-156). These are indications that the child may later on be possessed by the familar of the parent. It is by virtue of having this familiar that a shaman may enter trance and visit the spirit world ... . ...

p. 280

The shaman eventually becomes an oneirocritic with the power

to control spirits

{More actually, to co-operate with them : for, no mortal can actually "control" the praeternatural.}

and seek lost souls (Herdt 1992:67).

Among the Daribi people, also living in New Guinea, the

sogoyezibidi

{possibly a compound of Strong's 5473 \suwg\ 'hedge' + Strong's 2064 \zabad\ 'to conferr, to endue'}

("tobacco-spirit")

{surely, until quite recently always referring to some other psychotropic drug -- tobacco having been only very recently introduced}

or shaman attains her (sometimes his) spiritual power from a close relationship with

a ghost

{more actually, some immortal spirit-guide who may feign being a ghost in order to please the expectations of Papuan mortals}

who aids the shaman in divining, diagnosing and curing. "The sogoyezibidi's relationship with a ghost ... is initiated by the ghost itself ... .

Someone may tell a close relative or clanmate, 'When I die my ghost will come to you and make you a sogoyezibidi.' Afterward, when the person who made the promise dies, he will appear to the one he has 'marked' in a dream

{Whoever is promising to appear (to someone else) after death, is making that promise because of having been informed of this in a dream. Never-the-less, the apparition seen (after the promiser's death) by the promisee cannot be who it is claiming to be (namely the promiser), but is instead the immortal divinity who had informed the promiser in a dream. This divinity, will (in order to conform to expectations) assume the visage of the dead promiser, as disguise, when appearing in the promisee's dream.}

and present her with a bamboo tobacco pipe, signifying the fulfillment of his promise" (Wagner 1972:141)."

p. 280

"Among the Zinacantan Indians of Chiapas, Mexico, ...

{\Zinacantan\ is merely the name of the local town : this Mayan tribe's name is \Tz'otz-il\ ('del murcie`lago, of the bat', \-il\ being the Mayan genitive-case suffix, comparable to Etruscan \-l\).}

The full-on shaman, whose practices of healing and other matters is very similar to the classic pattern of Siberian shamanism, is selected by the ancestral gods,

[quoted] ... who command him to become a h>ilol and instruct him in all the information requisite to curing. Informants describe ...

p. 281

that over a period of several years the subject experiences a series of dreams in which he is summoned before

the ["ancestral gods"] in their dwelling inside the mountain peak of muk>ta vic.

{"The sacred mountain ... grottos as the dwellings of immortals, constitutes a major theme in Taoist hagiographic literature." ("BWG-H", p. 268)} {"the mountain's deities and demons, ... In ... the cavernous interior of the mountain" ("BWG-H", p. 270)."

Here the individual is told that he has been chosen to become a h>ilolo and is given patients whom he must cure. (Fabrega and Silver 1970:474)"

"a shaman named Ashok {Skt \a-s`oka\ 'sorrowless'} (Ashok & Skafte 2001 [1992}:235) related a dream he had when he was sixteen :

[quoted] ... below that cliff is a small temple dedicated to Bajra (the thunder gold). One day, ... I had a wonderful dream in which Bajra stood before me. He had a long beard streaked with gold, and he wore beautiful clothing. Bajra said, "It is time for you to learn to become a shaman. I will be your teacher." ... Later that evening, I suddenly went into a trance -- I began to shake and I could not utter a word. My brother-in-law, who is a shaman, was sommoned. ... I remained in trance, without speaking, for a week.

Some time later, ... His brother-in-law requested the possessing spirit to reveal itself. "Bajra answered through me," said Ashok. "I am Bajra ... . Ashok must become a shaman ... . Open his eyes so that he can see to travel the right way to the upper, middle, and lower worlds.""

"according to Clark Whissler (1870-1947) who collected dreams among the Blackfoot Indians (reprinted in Lincoln 1935:259-260), a shman ... dreamed that : "Sun man and moon woman and their son, the morning star, appeared. The [sun] man ... says, 'You will live as long as I.' The [moon] woman gives power over rain. The [morning-star] son gives for [viz., to be used as] a hat, a plume [viz., headdress] of eagle feathers and tail feathers of a magpie. ..." He continues this series of dreams ... and further accrues the power to stop bleeding and to handle red hot stones."

"Among the 19th century Iroquois, according the A. F. C. Wallace :

[quoted] ... a dream could ... reveal the wishes ... of the supernatural who appeared in the dream. Frustration of the wishes of a supernatural was dangerous, for he might not merely abandon or cause the death of the dreamer, but could bring about disaster to the whole society ... . Hence, dreams in which such powerful personages as Tarachiawagon (culture hero and a favorite dream-figure) appeared and announced that they wanted something done (frequently for the dreamer) were matters of national moment. Clairvoyants were called upon; the chiefs met and discussed ways of satisfying the ... demands of ... the powers above ... ."

p. 283

"Among the Numic-speaking societies of the American Great Basin, "Supernatural powers are obtained in dreams. A prospective shaman might involuntarily dream of power (in the form of spirit helpers), or seek out guardian spirits through dreams at sacred places (e.g., caves). Dreaming is a necessary prerequisite even for inheritance of shamanic ability through family members. ... The spirit helper instructs the novice about paraphernalia, songs to sing, the dances to be carried out while curing" (Myers 2004:292-293)."

"Quiche` ... in Mexico {sic! actually, in highland Watemala}. Shamans are often recruited from among the ranks of the sick. ... the young patient is asked to tell about any dreams tnhey might have had bearing on the matter. One such report was of ... replies, "... I dreamed that I was making divinations ..., and ... I was burning incense ..." (Bunzel 1952:323). If the family decides to allow the boy ... will become an apprentice to a shaman and all through the process he will be asked to report any dreams that seem important.

Tarahumara ([in Chihuahua state of] Mexico) shamans are ... recruited ... by older experienced shamans, often from their own household. ... One shaman ... gave ... the following ... description of his training : "... He was taught to sleep at night with great care, in order to learn from his dreams what made people sick" (Bennett and Zingg 1976:256). ...

p. 284

"A child had thrown stones into one of the deep river whirlpools, where the water people live ... . That night, the child dreamed that a large animal came out of the water and seized it {scil., the child}. Thus the child became ill. [The same shaman] was summoned, and he sent his soul out to arrange ransom" (ibid:259-260)."

p. 284

"The Zulu distinguish ... types of dreams, "those sent by ancestors, those sent by wizards ..." ([Sundkler 1948]:265-266). ... it is from the {dead} ancestors that one receives a calling to be a healer or diviner :

[quoted from Sundkler 1948, pp. 266-7] ... a famous diviner in northern Zululand, told me about his call : He saw in a dream the spirits of his father and of an old diviner. They told him to go to Polela river ["running east of Lesotho"] where he would become initiated. He walked ..., and arriving on the third day, he recognized the diviner who had [in the dream] been pointed out to him. There and then his initiation started.

In the case of a diviner, ... Not only must his call be extended by the ancestors through a dream, but he as to go on dreaming {praecognitively} in order to assert himself as a real

p. 285

diviner. To receive clear dreams, he avoids certain food and he smears himself with white earth."

[quoted from Benedict 1922, p. 8] "for those who desired to become shamans, ... a candidate might go to an individual shaman, who accompanied him to an isolated spot and tied him as in the sun dance; or

he might himself cut off and offer bits of {his own} flesh in the presence of the shaman."

{Cf. Nkundo-tribe (in Zaire) myth : "The enchanted woman ... gave the Eloko a piece of her arm. He roasted her flesh over the fire and ate it quickly" (FGD, p. 114; cf. LCBC, s.v. "Eloko"; and cf. BM&OT, p. 140).}

p. 288

"But what does "luck" mean if not another word for magic? Among the Mae Enga of New Guinea, as with so many peoples, there is no such thing as randomness in events. "The causal or sky beings ["experienced in dreams"] also dispense good and bad luck. Men attribute to actions in the celestial world the occurrence of the unpredictable in earthly affairs ... . ..." (Meggitt 1965:109).

Again, among

the Kyaka of New Guinea

{language #300 on PNG maps ## 6 & 9}

(Bulmer 1965:139) : "A ghost ["encountered in dreams"] can help ... his surviving near kin. He can protect them from danger ... . ... ." Thus, happenstance is due to ... the gods ... that come to be known in dreams and visions.

People everywhere are quite empirical ... (Lohmann 2003b:5). If dreams are another domain of reality, then the information derived from dreams ... is real, ... causation involved in the information is real,

even though ... at a distance with no mechanism between {that is to say, with no entirely-evident out-in-the-open perceptible mechanism -- but with even material-world governments having their own highly-secretive programs, variously classified as "secret", "top-secret", and "ultra-sensitive"; why must the divine governments of praeternatural universes be praesumed to lack any aequivalent mechanisms, the operation whereof such divine governments could always be more successful, by far, in keeping covertly under wraps of top-secret and ultra-sensitive operations? [written 22 Dec 2017]},

{Quite incorrectly asserted! There are always numerous intricate and complex mechanisms connecting the dream-universes with the material universe, and enabling entities and devices residing in dream-universes to act upon, and to control the patterns of events occurring in the material universe : these include not only interventions by mechanical equipment such as flying saucers emanating from, and returning to, divine dream-universes, but also the manipulation of the minds of persons residing in the material (waking) universe by their subtle-universe-based spirit-guides, who always act on their mortal prote'ges in accordance with advices to them rendred by internetworked committees of divine entities residing in multifarious planes-and-subplanes of subtle divine universes.}

or distant in time ... ."

{Because-and-whereas all deities are aeternal (at least as much so as the "laws of physics"), and their universe-wide system of absolute control over the material plane (waking universe) maintained perpetually, how can distance in time be accounted as any obstacle?}

p. 289

"As Stephen (1995:xii) mentions in her study of

Mekeo

{language #724 on PNG map #16}

religion, "Since ... magic forms the basis of Mekeo cosmology, it is 'magic' that is central to this study. ... ."

Among the Lakalai people of New Britain, "... Many spirit forms ["as experienced in dreams"] can change their shape, make themselves invisible, move over great distances in a moment's time, fly through the air, enter the body of a living person ..., and survive bodily injuries, including dismemberment ... . It is symptomatic of man's kinship with the spirit-beings that he can approach some of these feats through ... independent action ... in sleep ..., or the presence or aid of a spirit" (Valentine 1965:167-168)."

p. 290

"During his apprenticeship, he learned ... the skills of the "sucking doctor", apparently sucking the object causing the illness from his patients. He gradually came to realize that these tricks actually work.

When he treated a sick youth, who had a dream in which Quesalid saved him by extracting something ..., the youth got better -- "he believed strongly in his dream about me" wrote the shaman (Boas 1930:13). ...

{In this dream, the mortal human healer/curer was being impersonated by a veritable healing/curing deity (who is residing in another plane-of-existence, visited by the patient in the dreaming) : so that, when the patient "believed in his dream", he was effectively believing in the deity who was healing/curing him (thus, it was a true "faith-healing"). [written 21 Nov 2017]}

The tale of Quesalid the shaman, as told by Le'vi-Strauss [1963], ... does reveal

p. 291

... "Boas' Puzzle" -- namely that shamanic healing practices all over the world are often based upon crude trickery and theatrical performance, and Boas really never came to grips with the fact that dramaturgy and "hocus-pocus" can really work to heal." {The ordinary meaning of Latin \placebo\ is 'I shall please' -- but whom is to be pleased? Could it be that there are medically healing/curative divinities\deities (e.g., Asklepios and Dhanvantari) who are pleased to be informed by a sufficiently-explicit rite notifying them of a medical patient's need for becoming cured -- and who are glad to respond accordingly, very promptly? [written 21 Nov 2017]}

{Our explication of how the "placebo effect" is able to heal/cure ailments in medical patients :- The local praeternatural entities (who must inform distant deities who are capable of performing healing/curing) are typically not able to understand any human language, and thus prayer to them must be unavailing. How-be-it, when a rite intended to avail to heal/cure a medical patient is performed by an appropriately-attired mortal human medic, such local praeternatural entities who are, invisibly, witnessing and recognizing the rite as a demonstration of need for the healing/curing intervention by healing/curing deities, so that the latter are promptly informed of these facts by the former; whereupon the appropriate miraculous healing/curing is thereupon performed. Simulated medical fakery by the mortal human ritualist is quite adequate, as a rite sufficiently ostentatious to draw the attention of such local praeternatural entities. [written 21 Nov 2017]}

p. 295

"among the Otomi Indians of {Hidalgo state in} Central Mexico, ... healing shamanism ... through ... dream life was central ... :

[quoted] When I became a shaman, I began to see how to cast out illness in my dreams. ... These things are revealed to you alone in your dreams. ...

p. 296

As you're curing the patient, your dreams tell you what the problem is ... . Your dreams tell you what is needed for the cure. If

an air ["... spirit"}] ...,

{Prince of the Power of the Air (Epistole to the Ephesioi 2:2)

you'll be able to talk to it in your dreams, just as if it were a person. You have to deal with airs ... ."

"Individuals ... may diagnose the cause and cure of their own illness for themselves. Navajos pay a great deal of attention to dreams as omens ..., and will self-diagnose based on symbolic elements in a dream (Sandner 1991:261-265). If they become aware of the cause of their malady, they may seek out an herbalist (azee' neigeedii, "one who digs medicines") for medical treatment ... ." (Dadosky 1999)"

p. 297

"it is quite common for a professional dream-healer to be consulted when someone falls ill. On the island of

p. 298

Aurora in the New Hebrides, the friends o a sick person may send for a dreamer ... . The dreamer "... sleeps, and in his dream goes to the place where the sick man has been working; there he meets someone ... who is really a ghost, and he learns from him what is his name. The ghost tells him that the sick man as he was working has encroached on his ground, the place he haunts as his own, and that to punish him he has taken away his soul and impounded it in a magic fence in the garden" (Codrington ... [1891]:208). The dreamer entreats the ghost to give back the sick person's soul, for the sick one meant no disrespect. The ghost removes the fence and frees the soul and this hopefully heals the afflicted one.

Likewise, healers among the Manus people of the Admiralty Islands use both dreams and possession trance to diagnose the causes of illness (Fortune ... [1935]:36). In dreams the healers sends his soul

wandering into the past to see

{scil., a cinematic version of the Akas`ik Record}

what events might have led to the patient's travail. ... This may hopefully result in a confession by the patient, and thus a cure for the malady.

Nancy Munn (1990:6) tells us that among the people of Gawa Island, located near Papua New Guinea, dreaming is seen "as 'seeing' ... during sleep ... . Dreams in particular are regarded as crucial means of giving visibility to the invisible ... activities ..." that cause disease. Dreams of a sick person may be interpreted by a healer as indicating ... the source of the illness ... . Dream imagery and the actions of the sucking-doctor reveal the previously invisible causation ... of ... the somatic symptoms of sickness.

In her research among the Mekeo of Papua New Guinea, Michele Stephen recorded ... feuapi, or dream-healers. The dream-healer sends her dream ego out into the spirit world and recovers lost or stolen souls. ...

p. 299

[quoted from Stephen 1995, pp. 198-9] When people are sick, and when they {i.e., their relatives on their behalf} bring ... riches and give them to us, we bespell them. When I bespell them, then I lie down to sleep that night, and I go in search of their dream-selves. I go to the faifai water spirits' place; I go down into the water. They make ladders that go down. ... When I sleep ... I see them and I go there. I go down ... and I go along until I see the house where the person has been put. ... But if the water spirit refuse, I do not take that person. ... The next morning the relatives of the sick person come to me and I tell them ... . Then they go and get money and bring it ... . When they bring money to me, I say the spells and that night I take the dream-self and I bring it back."

p. 299

"In her analysis of a Sudanese healing cult, Pamela Constantinides (1977) tells ... that ... The person [prospective membre] will come come to the cult leader with their {her or his} ... emotional complaint ... and the leader will determine whether the complaint is caused by possession {read : "obsession"} by a zaar spirit. Diagnosis may take one of two forms : "Either the patient herself may act as a medium for the spirits which express through her their demands, or the cult leader, after what are said to be spirit-inspired dreams ..., will convey to the patient what the spirit requires ..." (ibid:66). There will follow a ritual in which a negotiation with the zaar will occur and the patient is eventually released from the possession {read : "the obsession"}.

p. 300

Death for the Mambila of {Taraba State in} Nigeria is caused by the ancestors (Rehfisch 1971:310). A person is offered a bit of cooked chicken in a dream, ... and Farnham Rehfisch (ibid:308) describes one such case ... . A woman ... went on a dream journey after ancestors appeared to her and offered her a tasty piece of chicken :

[quoted] Having accepted the food, she ... was taken to the world of the shades. ... There were many chickens seen, ... and they ... were all white. ... She began to speak to some of the ancestors, who asked her about her life on earth. ... The next thing she knew she awoke on her bed."

[quoted from Santos-Granero 2004: ] "In their dreams, they are visited by ... demonic teachers ... who are under the orders of Korioshpiri, the "father" ... of all demons. These demonic teachers, which include birds (cuckoos, nocturnal swallows), insects (grasshoppers, crickets), and the souls of ... live and dead human sorcerers, appear to the sleeping child under human guise."

"Crocker (1985) reports ... among the Bororo of Brazil in which ... dreams had during labor [of childbirth] have enormous power to predict ... and need to be reported to the shaman immediately (ibid:54) :

[quoted] ... A shaman of the souls discovered in communicating with the aroe ["souls"] that this ... had been dreamed about by a {prospective} father during his wife's labor [of childbirth], ... to tell the i-maruga ["name-giver"] ... about it. ... (ibid:343, n. 7)"